Platinum-selling British artist, Paloma Faith, is currently in the midst of an extensive UK tour, which will run until the summer; recently, she brought her unique style and sound to the capital for a headline show at Hammersmith Apollo. Her monitor engineer, Saul Skoutarides, had an abundance of Sennheiser kit in tow...

Skoutarides, who also works monitors for Kings of Leon, has been a Sennheiser user for some time; be it the 2000 Series, the G2s or the G3s, he insists he has always achieved the best possible results when using Sennheiser systems.

“For me, Sennheiser is just worlds ahead of its competitors; you not only get sound quality, you get true value for money and absolute reliability,” he says. “I used to use the G2s, which were great, but these G3s that I am using on the Paloma tour are even better: the stereo imaging; the RF; the gain structure; the sound board – they've all really improved; it's definitely one of the best Sennheiser systems out there right now.”

Skoutarides is using 11 G3s in total, and provides individual in-ear monitor mixes for a string of dedicated vocalists and band members. Faith's microphone is a very 'blinged' gold Sennheiser SKM 5200-II with a 5235 capsule, which Skoutarides links to a Sennheiser 3732 receiver; the results, he says, are fantastic.

Additional microphones include e 904s for toms on the drum kit, an e 906 on guitar and wired e 935s for backing vocalists.

“I love the SKM 5200; it sounds excellent, and because we're also using the dynamic [5235] capsule, it doesn't use too much bandwidth, therefore it's far more stable than a condenser for this application,” he explains. “As it's the only radio mic we're using (all backing vocalists are using wired Sennheiser dynamic mics), I've brought in the 3732 receiver, which is also excellent.

“It has an AES output, so it sounds great if you want to keep it digital all the way, and it's in the NGB frequency range, which goes all the way from 606-790, so I can also use it as a scanner to scan my entire band every morning, because all my in-ears fall into that band. It's just a great setup to work with.

“I’ve been involved with the good people at Sennheiser for a number of years now. They continue to be very supportive, regardless of the scale of the task at hand. I have always felt that Sennheiser has a very competent team who are there to help out whenever an unexpected situation may arise. They are always willing to work closely with tours and shows to achieve the best results possible.

“And aside from the great support network, the combination of Sennheiser mics and IEM systems on this tour has kept my artist very happy indeed!”

Faith went on to perform at the prestigious BAFTAs at London's Royal Opera House before hitting the road again; her tour ends in July with a slot at T in the Park festival in Scotland.

About Gasoline Media

Owner and director, Sarah James, has worked in the AV/entertainment technology industry for over 25 years, initially in publishing at Disco International and Live! Magazines, moving into public relations in 1993 and setting up Gasoline Media in 2000.